"forgettable"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Victor is undoubtedly right. As for its meaning, "deserving of being
forgotten; impossible to forget because so embarrassing," I've been hearing
this on TV news for years.

I'm almost ready to say "many years."

The usual idiom is "one of his/her/its most forgettable moments."

JL

On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 12:38 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "forgettable"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Victor
>
> I would never have explained it the way you did, but I agree with your
> analysis.
>
> DanG
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 12:23 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "forgettable"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I'm not convinced. I see is more like "we wish it could have been
> > forgotten". (The reply is both to RB and LH)
> >
> > Consider this chain. "Unforgettable" means two different thing--someone
> one
> > cannot forget and something that is particularly noteworthy. The second
> one
> > has nothing to do with forgetting--it's more of an intrinsic property of
> th=
> > e
> > moment.
> >
> > The antonym to the first one is "forgettable". The second one--not so
> much.
> > But it is precisely this combination that spawns this particular instance
> o=
> > f
> > "forgettable"=3D=3Dnotorious. So it's actually an UNforgettable moment,
> but=
> >  for
> > the reason that is OPPOSITE of the ordinary UNforgettable moment. Hence
> it'=
> > s
> > the forgettable moment! It's like a cancellation of two un- prefixes.
> >
> > VS-)
> >
> > On Sun, Jul 24, 2011 at 9:03 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrot=
> > e:
> >
> >>
> >> On Jul 24, 2011, at 6:59 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> >>
> >> > http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=3Dap-halloffameinductions
> >> > "The switch-hitting Alomar won a record 10 Gold Gloves at second base,
> >> > was a 12-time All-Star and a career .300 hitter. Full of baseball
> >> > smarts and grace, he=92s also linked with one of the game=92s most
> >> > forgettable moments -- he spit on umpire John Hirschbeck during an
> >> > argument in 1996."
> >> >
> >> > So forgettable that it's still being talked about 15 years later?
> >> >
> >> > =97bgz
> >> >
> >> Hmmm.  "forgettable" =3D 'worthy of being forgotten'?  The negative
> >> counterpart of "memorable"?
> >>
> >> LH
> >
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